Northern Rec Cup - Predators Grab Victory Over Goldie Locks and the Ice Bears.

The Newcastle Predators recorded an impressive win over reigning champions Grimsby Ice Bears last night, to give their title aspirations a major boost. The Ice Bears have skated off with the Northern Rec Cup on each of the last two seasons, but arrived on Tyneside with a much depleted squad. Just eight skaters took to the ice [5 forwards and 3 defensemen] but nothing should be taken away from the Predators who were far from at full strength themselves. Jamie Penaluna was one of five regulars missing as he serves a suspension from last week’s game against the Hull City Knights.

 

Despite having a small roster, Grimsby still looked a formidable side and limited the Predators to just two goals midway through the opening period. Predators coach Stu Davis opened the scoring at 8:19 and that lead was then doubled just over two minutes later when Ian Russell found the net. In-between those two goals though saw the first of several unsavoury hits by the visiting Ice Bears, when Dan Smith was assessed a 2+10 misconduct penalty for a check to the head. At that stage the game was threatening to boil over and you sensed it wouldn’t be long before the gloves would be dropped.

To Grimsby’s credit though, they seemed to weather that early storm and settled down into a solid side, even forcing the Predators into taking 12 PIMs over a 15 minute period. They even got a goal back just after the halfway mark when Lyle Mitchell finished off a move that involved both Jordan Braithwaite and Dave Cerrino. But with the Predators restoring their two goal advantage at 35:03 thanks to  Anthony Charters, just seconds later we had the major flashpoint of the game. Braithwaite appeared to knee one of the Predators in the back which drew an automatic 5 plus game misconduct, but the skirmish also took Lee Gill and Graeme Nelson with him. Quite how such a dangerous act could result in the Predators having to kill a five minute penalty is anyone’s guess. It wouldn’t be long though, before we had the next talking point.

 

Josh Kershaw who had been working his ticket for much of the game got himself sent off, when he decided to line up and slam a Predators player into the plexi, with both skates leaving the ice during the process. That brought about the expected reaction from both sides with a line brawl breaking out. One of the Grimsby players involved was the extremely rotund Dave Cerrino, who looked very similar in stature to former Billingham Bombers player Gary Dowd, and was equally as dirty as the Henry XIII lookalike from Teesside too.

 

Kershaw, who earned himself the nickname ‘Goldie Locks’ was sporting a dreadful blonde mullet which was covered by a bandana under his helmet. As he made his way to the visitors dressing room he had the look of a defeated WWE tag team wrestler. Perhaps he was the missing brother from the New Age Outlaws? Although Goldie Locks would have had his work cut out trying to replace Road Dogg or Billy Gunn.

It was at that point the game looked like it might boil over, but coach Stu Davis, told his team to be calm, and was heard telling them ‘don’t win the fights, win the game.’ It was a clever move too. Grimsby were down to just 6 skaters and 2 goalies and seemed intent on turning the contest into a fight and getting the Predators off their game. If there had been a further line brawl, it would have also meant a bench clearance for the Ice Bears as they were running out of players. At one stage of the game it looked like penalty trouble might have been the Predators undoing as it was playing into the Ice Bears hands but the Tynesider’s stuck to their task and rattled in a further three goals to seal the win. Davis got his second goal of the night while there were also strikes for Curt Elgie and Mark Bone.

 

With three Northern Rec Cup games now completed, the Predators are back on track and are looking good with two wins [Kingston City Knights 8-3 at home and this win over Grimsby] and just a single defeat which came against the Ice Bears at Grimsby. There is still a long way to go in this campaign but having already claimed the Ice Bears scalp in a game they lost last season, it should give the Tyneside-based side plenty of confidence.

 

A day earlier, the Predators took on local rivals the Tyneside Jesters, running out 12-5 winners in a hastily arranged friendly. They are next in action this coming Sunday  [face off 12:15pm] when they take on the Newcastle Coyotes in a Northern Rec Cup clash.

KHL - Western Conference Final - SKA v Lokomotiv Yaroslavl - SKA Win Series 4-0

Omsk, April 25, 2012. 52 minutes into game seven of the Gagarin Cup Final, Jakub Klepis scores the decisive goal for Dynamo Moscow, defeating Avangard. Dynamo’s captain, Alexei Kudashov, goes to collect the trophy and celebrates victory with head coach Oleg Znarok, two years after the pair lost out in game seven of the 2010 Grand Final with MVD.
Fast forward to 2017. Five years on, Kudashov and Znarok are seeking more Gagarin Cup glory … but this time they stand in each other’s way. Znarok, who went on to defend his title in Moscow before taking up his position with Team Russia, is now behind the bench at SKA. Kudashov ended his playing career after Dynamo’s first triumph and spent two seasons as head coach at Atlant before moving to Lokomotiv in 2015. Now, both men are preparing for this week’s Western Conference Final as SKA faces Lokomotiv.

Oleg Znarok’s coaching career is well-known. His success at club and international level speaks for itself, while his spiky character has introduced a new, combative attitude to Team Russia after the patrician strategies of the Zinetula Bilyaletdinov era. At SKA, the lavish collection of exquisitely talented players on offense feels different to his previous club teams at MVD and Dynamo. But for all the thrilling talent on display, the Army Men are no soft touch when it comes to a battle. Maybe it isn’t co-incidence that Pavel Datsyuk, that most elegant of hockey players, picked up the first game misconduct of his career while playing under Znarok. Anyone involved with this coach understands that talent, no matter how outrageous, will never be enough to exempt any player from putting in the hard yards on the ice. Kudashov’s story is a bit different. Two seasons of struggle at Atlant saw financial constraints hamper the team. Twice, he fell just short of a playoff spot. When Lokomotiv came calling, it looked like a change of direction for the Yaroslavl team: no more big-name foreigners; instead, a calculated gamble on a rising star of Russian coaching. Now 45, Kudashov shows signs of delivering on that promise, and of helping Loko develop its own emerging talents. He’s spoken of his willingness to give serious game time to the leading products of the renowned Yaroslavl hockey school, and that has been rewarded with big performances from the likes of Pavel Kraskovsky, Yegor Korshkov and Alexander Polunin. That trio has impressed for club and country, playing as a single line at Lokomotiv and for Russia’s u20s. The elder two, Kraskovsky and Korshkov, also featured in Russia’s senior roster during the successful Euro Hockey Tour campaign. Polunin, already attracting attention from across the Atlantic, told IIHF.com earlier this season that Lokomotiv’s commitment to nurturing young talent was a big part of why he left Moscow to continue his development in Yaroslavl. “Because of the coaches’ trust, young players gain confidence and play better,” he said. “It’s very good because it helps me develop and grow better and faster.”

Pavel Kraskovsky

That young trio has played a valuable cameo role in the current playoffs, but Lokomotiv’s biggest strength so far has been its power play. It’s no coincidence that D-man Jakub Nakladal, a two-way player with a mighty slap shot, is the team’s leading goalscorer: partnered by Staffan Kronwall while Brandon Kozun pulls those power play strings, the Czech has emerged as a formidable weapon in post-season, three seasons after he helped defeat Lokomotiv at this stage while playing for Lev Prague. Kudashov has some injury worries: first-choice goalie Alexei Murygin missed the last two games of the series against CSKA and his fitness is uncertain ahead of Thursday’s opener in Petersburg. Kozun took a hit to the head during Grigory Panin’s rampage on Saturday and did not feature in the latter half of that game. Znarok, meanwhile, is without defenseman Vyacheslav Voynov, who has not featured since appearing in one shift in the final game of the regular season.

Alexei Kudashov

Game 1 - SKA v Lokomotiv 5-4 OT - Thursday, March 23, 2017
SKA left it late, perilously so, to take the lead in this Western Conference Final series, snatching a dramatic equalizer with 10 seconds left to play, and going on to win it thanks to Patrik Hersley in overtime. The game seemed to be all but gone when Lokomotiv moved 4-2 ahead thanks to a quick-fire salvo from Max Talbot and Denis Mosalyov early in the third period. But SKA held its nerve, continued to create chances and hauled itself back into contention thanks to another successful combination from Vadim Shipachyov and Nikita Gusev before Jarno Koskiranta’s second of the night tied the scores on 59:50. SKA even overcame the loss of starting goalie Mikko Koskinen, who left the game 11 minutes into the extras due a problem with his kit. That brought Igor Shestyorkin to the crease for the first time in post-season, but the youngster offered no opportunities for Loko in his short spell on the ice Hersley’s second goal of the night won it in the 73^rd minute. The Swedish D-man, who only moved from Lokomotiv to SKA in the fall, got the slightest of touches at the near post to deflect Nikita Gusev’s shot away from Alexander Sudnitsin in the Lokomotiv net. Gusev, though, was very much the architect, dancing away from his opponent on the edge of the circle and creating a shooting lane for himself to test the Loko defense once again.
All of that came after SKA made the brighter start and, aided by penalty trouble for Loko, took the lead early in the game. It came in the seventh minute, on the power play, when Anton Belov fired in a shot from the blue line. Jarno Koskiranta got himself free in the midst of a triangle of Loko D-men and swung out his stick to prod the puck down and past Sudnitsin in the visitor’s net.
It wasn’t until late in the period that Lokomotiv began to start asking questions of Koskinen, but hopes of gaining a toehold on the game were hampered by regularly penalties against the visitor. Loko’s offense was somewhat disjointed, and the home team looked the more likely to score further goals. But a flare-up in the 26^th minute that saw Sergei Shirokov called for slashing and cause a fight in the process served to disrupt the rhythm of the game.  Once the dust settled, Loko found a way back into contention. Rushan Rafikov’s long forward pass was flicked on by Yegor Averin on the red line and Dmitry Lugin went racing into the SKA zone on a two-on-one break that he converted himself. Two minutes later, Averin hit the net himself, taking Ilya Lyubushkin’s pass and surprising Koskinen with a shot from the deep slot. Lokomotiv led 2-1, SKA was left wondering how the game had suddenly leapt out of its grasp. Hersley briefly tied the scores in the 46^th minute. His slap shot from the point, timed at 145km/h, came in as Loko’s Andrei Loktionov obscured Sudnitsin’s view of the stick. The puck beat the goalie low to his right. But Lokomotiv was scoring in flurries, and was soon back in front. Max Talbot broke down the left, exchanged passes with Petri Kontiola in the center and fired inside Koskinen’s near post from close range as Yegor Yakovlev sprawled in front of him in a desperate bid to block. Delight for the traveling support turned into delirium less than a minute later when Denis Mosalyov made it 4-2. The former Dynamo forward, like his head coach Alexei Kudashov, a Gagarin Cup winner under current SKA chief Oleg Znarok, had a simple finish off Emil Galimov’s pass after Vladislav Gavrikov forced a turnover as SKA tried to clear its blue line. That should have been enough for Loko to win it in regulation, especially after Vadim Shipachyov failed to test Sudnitsin with a good chance in front of the net. The forward went on the backhand, and could not generate enough power to overcome the goalie. It felt like SKA’s moment had passed, but in reality Shipachyov’s time was still to come. Another power play, and the forward linked up with Gusev once again, picking out the killer pass to enable his team-mate to shoot home. Then came the big drama. Koskinen watching from the bench, SKA throwing everything forward and, when time was almost up, Belov drilled the puck into the danger zone one last time. Koskiranta collected it and, with two touches, put it beyond Sudnitsin to tie the game in dramatic fashion. Game 2 - SKA v Lokomotiv 4-1 - Saturday, March 25, 2017

For the second game running, two goals from a former Lokomotiv player helped SKA come from behind to win in the Western Conference Final series. This time it was Sergei Plotnikov who delivered a double dose of trouble for Lokomotiv, the team he represented for three seasons for 2012-2015. His game-winner was a spectacular coast-to-coast effort, one of several highlights on a good day for SKA that also saw Ilya Kovalchuk score his 150^th goal in Russian Championship play and Mikko Koskinen produced one of the saves of the playoffs. Yet the early exchanges were uncomfortable for SKA. The visitor, which had been just 10 seconds away from winning the opening game of the series before giving up a late equalizer and losing in overtime, was buoyed by the return of Brandon Kozun. The Canadian, who missed out on Thursday due to injury, helped inspire Lokomotiv’s offense in a lively first period in which Alexei Kudashov’s men dominated play. Indeed, it was only down to some superb goaltending from Koskinen that SKA escaped with just one goal in its net in the opening stanza. The Finn was hugely impressive, never more so than his stunning 16^th-minute stick save to deny Denis Mosalyov after Daniil Apalkov’s defense-splitting pass left the goalie exposed. Mosalyov went high as Koskinen sprawled back into position and got his stick up to deflect the puck over the bar. Lokomotiv did open the scoring moments later, though, clinically converting a power play chance when Andrei Loktionov and Yegor Averin combined neatly to set up Dmitry Lugin for a shot at the unguarded side of Koskinen’s net. Not even the flying Finn could retrieve that one, and Loko went into the intermission 1-0 up. But it also began the second stanza one man down, and SKA took advantage quickly as Kovalchuk enjoyed another landmark moment. Vadim Shipachyov emerged from behind the net with the puck, and his pass sat up invitingly for Kovy to unleash a wrister from the right-hand face-off spot. Alexander Sudnitsin had no chance as the puck beat him on the blocker side and the home team had something to celebrate at last. Ordinarily, Kovalchuk’s milestone would have been the champagne moment, but Plotnikov had other ideas. His spectacular coast-to-coast effort in the 40^th minute outshone his team-mate’s impressive achievement. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Plotnikov decided to take the game to his former club all by himself. Starting on his own goalline, the forward set off. Two Loko forwards went to meet him on the blue; Plotnikov breezed past as if they weren’t there. Two D-men also offered little resistance as a dangle took the forward past Jakub Nakladal and sent him in on goal. A backhand finish was too good for Sudnitsin. SKA was in front … and in some style. The Army Men wrapped up the game with two further goals midway through the third period, and Plotnikov was involved in both. First, his diagonal pass picked out Nikolai Prokhorkin at the far post and that was 3-1. Then Sergei Shirokov’s end-to-end pass released Plotnikov for a one-on-one with Sudnitsin; there was little doubt about the outcome of that duel as the impressive Plotnikov made it 4-1. After former Loko D-man Patrik Hersley scored four points in the opening game of this series, Plotnikov finished with three points against his old club today. The consolation for Lokomotiv might be that there is no other player on the SKA roster who has recently moved from Yaroslavl to Petersburg and might be looking to continue that vengeful streak when the action moves to Lokomotiv’s ice on Monday.
Game 3 - Lokomotiv v SKA 1-2 OT - Monday, March 27, 2017

SKA is just one game away from returning to the Gagarin Cup Final after grinding out an overtime win in Yaroslav, with Alexander Barabanov the unlikely overtime hero. Lokomotiv, hoping for improved fortune on home ice, led for much of a fiery game but, amid frayed tempers, lost out following head coach Alexei Kudashov’s ejection from the game. Kudashov was penalized following an incident midway through the third period when a bottle flew off the Loko bench and landed on the ice where SKA’s players were heading back to the sidelines. The coach, and his colleagues, insisted it was an innocent accident; the officials disagreed and awarded a minor penalty while sending Kudashov to the locker room. That same power play saw SKA draw level through Nikita Gusev. The forward, whose earlier error contributed to Pavel Kraskovsky’s opening goal for Loko, made amends in some style with the equalizer. Anton Belov shot from the blue line, Alexander Sudnitsin saved, but Gusev collected the rebound and stretched to slide it beyond the goalie. Overtime followed, and SKA killed a penalty before grabbing the winner thanks to a great goal from Barabanov. The forward, who hadn’t found the net in 37 previous games, picked up the puck in center ice and surged down the right flank, powering past his opponents before arcing in front of the net and squeezing his shot through a flurry of skate and leg as Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Kadeikin jostled for position on the slot. Barabanov’s first post-season goal settled the outcome of a fierce, sometimes perhaps too fierce, battle in game three of the Western Conference Final. The most memorable moment came midway through the game when a massed brawl broke out in front of the Lokomotiv net as the home defense took exception to some close attentions paid to goalie Alexander Sudnitsin. Staffan Kronwall was picked out as the instigator, and his clash with Ilya Kablukov was most watchable bout of the three scuffles that kicked off simultaneously. The undercard was made up of Jakub Nakladal flooring Yegor Rykov while Max Talbot and Alexander Khokhlachyov also grappled. It was all part of a simmering evening. SKA’s starting goalie Mikko Koskinen left the game in the 19^th minute with an injury and seconds after that the home team’s Kadeikin got into a minor fight with visiting D-man Belov. And after the big fight at the halfway point, there was a further skirmish when Jarno Koskiranta reacted angrily to Mikhail Pashnin leading with his knee in a hit behind the Yaroslavl net. All the rough stuff rather distracted from a fine goal by young Pavel Kraskovsky. The 20-year-old produced a fantastic unassisted effort to open the scoring just before Koskinen’s injury, pouncing on the loose puck in center ice and leaving Dinar Khafizullin bewildered with some slick puck-handling before scoring on the backhand in a manner reminiscent of Pavel Datsyuk. SKA’s magic man is unlikely to feature again in this year’s playoffs after requiring an operation on the injury he picked up in the series against Dynamo, according to comments from club director Alexander Medvedev on R-Sport. Lokomotiv, though, may have unearthed another player capable of sprinkling a bit of sorcery on proceedings in the current series. It wasn’t enough to win the game, though. Kudashov’s penalty proved to be a turning point, and one that will doubtless be extensively discussed in the coming days, and SKA took advantage to move 3-0 ahead in the series. With just one playoff defeat so far for the Petersburg team, it will take something very special for Lokomotiv to repeat its shock victory over CSKA in the previous round; any revival must start with victory in game four on Wednesday.
Game 4 - Lokomotiv v SKA 1-2 - Wednesday, March 29, 2017
SKA St. Petersburg completed a sweep of Lokomotiv to become the first team to book its place in this season’s Gagarin Cup final. Not for the first time in the series, Oleg Znarok’s team found a way to win in a tight game, withstanding a final-period storm from Loko to edge a 2-1 verdict in Yaroslavl. The victory sends SKA to its second Grand Final in three years, while head coach Oleg Znarok etches a new chapter in the history books. He will take charge of a team in the Gagarin Cup final for a record fourth time, and has done so at three different clubs (MVD in 2010, Dynamo Moscow in 2012 and 2013, and now SKA). It took time for SKA to find its way into the lead in this one. Loko edged the first period without finding a way past young goalie Igor Shestyorkin as he made his first start of the playoffs. But the visitor established a foothold in the game in the second stanza, aided by penalty trouble for the host. In the end, SKA’s pressure paid off with a power play goal midway through the game to open the scoring. Dinar Khafizullin, far from prolific, was the unlikely goalscorer. The defenseman was the visitor’s third pick on the blue line for the power play, and proved to be third time lucky as he collected a Vadim Shipachyov pass and shot home from a central position to claim his first playoff goal of the season and only his second career strike in post season. That was a stark reminder of one of the key differences between the teams in this game, and this series. Lokomotiv squandered two power play chances in the opening stanza; SKA, without ever reaching the blistering standards seen in the regular season, found the net on its third numerical advantage and edged Loko closer to the exit. Khafizullin’s defensive colleague Anton Belov doubled the lead in the 35^th minute, enjoying an unexpected amount of time and space to fire in a slap shot that beat Alexander Sudnitsin low to the glove side. Lokomotiv’s hopes of keeping the series alive were fading fast, and a penalty for Jakub Nakladal soon after seemed to pile further pressure on the host. Instead, though, the Railwaymen hit back on that penalty kill. For a moment, there were echoes of the team’s first-round series, when it managed three short-handed goals against Dinamo Minsk. First, Petri Kontiola broke free and hit the post. Then came the goal: Nikita Cherepanov’s pass out of defense for Andrei Loktionov; Loktionov’s switch into the center for Alexander Kadeikin, who finished from close range to give the home team renewed hope. That hope was almost fulfilled early in the third when Daniil Apalkov found himself wonderfully placed at the far post with Igor Shestyorkin out of position. The shot went wide of the mark. More chances followed. A crazy scramble around Shestyorkin’s net saw the puck trickle agonizingly past the post. Denis Mosalyov got a shooting chance right in front of SKA’s goalie; the attempt was blocked. Kontiola saw a shooting chance squashed by the combined impact of two opponents. The crowd roared its heroes forward, but it was turning into one of those nights where nothing would bounce kindly for Lokomotiv. When good fortune came, it was too late and at the wrong end: Ilya Kovalchuk fired wide of the empty net in the dying seconds, a kindly outcome that Loko needed in front of SKA’s net rather than its own. Not for the first time, fine margins made the difference as SKA marched on. 

KHL - Eastern Conference Final - Metallurg Magnitogorsk v Ak Bars Kazan - Metallurg Win Series 4-0

When it comes to Eastern Conference success, Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Ak Bars Kazan are the go-to teams. Between them, they’ve featured in five out of eight Gagarin Cup finals. They’ve represented the Eastern Conference in the last three seasons and both organizations are bidding to become the first team in history to win three Gagarin Cups. Yet their paths to glory have been somewhat different.
For Metallurg, continuity has been the key. The team that has reached this stage bears more than a passing resemblance to Mike Keenan’s 2014 championship roster. Persevering with the Mozyakin-Kovar-Zaripov troika was something of a no-brainer, but it’s impressive to see how many senior players from three years ago are still producing top-class performances. The likes of goalie Vasily Koshechkin and defenseman Chris Lee remain formidable players, while Lee’s partner Viktor Antipin, still just 24, has matured into a player whose contribution belies his relatively young age. New players have been introduced, but they tend to emerge from within the Metallurg youth system, eg Alexei Bereglazov, or get snapped up as promising youngsters, such as Evgeny Timkin or Tomas Filippi. There’s no attempt to buy instant success here; the focus is on establishing a dynasty at the top of the game.
Even behind the bench, the changes have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Keenan moved upstairs into an advisory role during the 2014-15 season, bringing his deputy, Ilya Vorobyov, into the spotlight. Vorobyov has continued to work with the coaching infrastructure that existed under Keenan, and the whole organization has reaped the rewards of that consistency. While there may be an element of good fortune in that key players have remained fit and in form for several seasons, there’s no luck at all about consistent results at a club that has established a clear model of how it plays its hockey.

The Ak Bars story is rather different. On the face of it, it’s easy to draw a direct line linking Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s all-conquering teams of 2009 and 2010 and the present roster. Coach Bill is still in charge, and during his absence on international duty his place was filled by long-term right-hand man Valery Belov. When Bilyaletdinov led the team to the Gagarin Cup final in 2015 at the end of his first season back at the club following his spell in charge of Team Russia, it felt like business as usual at a club he has dominated for more than a decade. Not so. A radical overhaul of the club’s roster followed the 1-4 loss to SKA. It started on defense, where Ilya Nikulin, Evgeny Medvedev and Yakov Rylov were among the stalwarts to move on. Of the nine D-men who suited up in the 2015 playoffs, only Stepan Zakharchuk and Damir Musin are still involved in Kazan, while goalie Emil Garipov has emerged from the sidelines to be the undisputed #1.

Up front, the changes are less prominent, although the departure of Osсar Moller has affected the potency of Ak Bars’ offense. The key new figure, Vladimir Tkachyov, was involved in 2015 but has gone from a bit-part player to a vital component of the attack. Now 23, he’s enjoyed something of a break-out year this time around, winning an All-Star call-up and international recognition. Currently he tops the post-season scoring in Kazan with 11 (2+9) points. This season’s leading playoff goalscorers for the club, Jiri Sekac and Fyodor Malykhin, have both arrived since the previous Grand Final appearance. Sekac, part of the Lev Prague team that reached the 2014 final, has renewed a profitable combination with Justin Azevedo, Malykhin has quietly grown in stature since arriving from Avtomobilist. Perhaps the most intriguing change in the two rosters involves Rafael Batyrshin. This time last year, the defenseman was part of Magnitka’s cup-winning roster. Now, he’s shrugged off the injuries that blighted his regular season and is a solid part of Ak Bars’ defense. An archetypal ‘stay-at-home’ D-man, Batyrshin doesn’t grab the headlines in the manner of Lee or Nikulin – his three post-season assists this time around represent a career high. Now, Kazan waits to see if his insider knowledge of Magnitka’s all-powerful forwards can wrest the cup away from the holder.
The Eastern Conference Final begins in Magnitogorsk on Friday, March 24. The series continues until one team records four victories.

Game 1 - Metallurg v Ak Bars 2-1 OT - Friday, March 24, 2017
Sergei Mozyakin’s season to remember continued with an overtime winner as he brought up three figures for the season. Metallurg’s captain took his 2016-17 points tally to 101 with a goal and an assist as the defending champion came from behind to claim the first victory of this year’s Eastern Conference Final.
Mozyakin’s winner came early in the second period of overtime and showed all the hallmarks of a master marksman. Capitalizing on a hasty line change, he took up a menacing position on Ak Bars’ blue line, beyond the defensemen who were slow in covering the danger man. Chris Lee, from beyond his own goal line, picked out the killer pass and Mozyakin was off to the races. A calm approach to Emil Garipov’s net was followed with a devastating finish to leave the visiting goalie with no chance. After 85 minutes of hard-fought hockey, we finally had a winner.
It was probably a fair reflection of overtime. Although Ak Bars had more attempts on goal, Magnitka created the greater danger. Danis Zaripov went close midway through the first extra session, and Tomas Filippi came even closer in the 78^th minute, testing Garipov with a shot from a tight angle after Alexander Semin’s delightful feed. The video official was called to adjudicate – no goal. But the early stages of the game were far more encouraging for the visitor. Metallurg had enjoyed a long rest after sweeping Barys in the previous round, while Ak Bars only wrapped up its series against Avangard on Sunday. The difference in sharpness was apparent in the early stages as the Steelmen struggled to shake off a hint of rust and the Leopards looked to pounce on an underpowered opponent. Ak Bars took the lead midway through the game, thanks to a power play goal from Fyodor Malykhin. The forward won himself a dangerous position on the slot in time to divert Atte Ohtamaa’s shot beyond Vasily Koshechkin to open the scoring. But Metallurg gained in strength and composure as the second period progressed, perhaps begin to shake off some of the rustiness that afflicted its game in the early exchanges. And, with two-and-a-half minutes to play before the second intermission, Zaripov tied the scores. The forward showed great vision as he took up a position between the hash marks and opened himself for Viktor Antipin’s backhand pass out of the left-hand circle. Then Zaripov produced an unstoppable shot that ripped past Emil Garipov and flew back out of the net before the goalie could react. Zaripov was part of the Ak Bars roster in the 2009-10 season, the only previous time these two famous clubs met in post-season action. However, injury restricted him to just one playoff appearance in that campaign and he had no impact on the Kazan team’s victory over Magnitka in the Conference Semi-final. This season, though, Zaripov’s contribution has been huge: Friday’s goal was his 12^th of the current playoffs, the fifth best return in KHL history in only his 10^th post-season game. The KHL’s all-time best goal haul was 15, set by Evgeny Dadonov in SKA’s 2015 title-winning team; Zaripov seems well on course to beat that.
Mozyakin is another player in record-breaking form, and his assist on Zaripov’s goal brought up his 100^th point of a monumental season. He was close to adding his 101^st on the power play in the third, firing in a shot that Garipov found too hot to hold and seeing Jan Kovar collect the rebound and shoot agonizingly pass the far post from a tight angle. In the event, he had to wait until overtime to add to his tally, which he did in emphatic style. The series continues Sunday in Magnitogorsk. The puck drops at 1500 Moscow time as Ak Bars looks to level the scores before the action moves to Kazan next week. Game 2 - Metallurg v Ak Bars 2-0 - Sunday, March 26, 2017
The defending champion took a firm grip of the Eastern Conference Final series, opening a 2-0 lead over Ak Bars thanks to goals from Evgeny Timkin and Danis Zaripov, plus Vasily Koshechkin’s second shut-out of the playoffs. Magnitka took the lead after just 76 seconds with a goal that the Ak Bars defense would rather forget. There shouldn’t have been much danger when Yaroslav Khabarov attempted a shot from the point, but Timkin found himself with time enough to beat Emil Garipov to the rebound as Rafael Batyrshin and Albert Yarullin failed to get close enough to the forward. Such an early goal piled up the pressure on Ak Bars and allowed Metallurg to focus on preserving its advantage. While the visitor enjoyed plenty of possession, it struggled to really get inside the home defense and threaten Koshechkin’s net in the first period. The middle session provided more goalmouth action than the first, with Ak Bars gradually asking more questions of the Metallurg blue liners. But the best chances, Justin Azevedo denied a shot on an empty net by Timkin, Damir Musin finding a menacing position to test Koshechkin, came on a power play late in the period with Magnitka already two goals to the good. Zaripov, one of the stars of the first game of the series, was at it again to bag his 13^th post-season goal in only his 11^th playoff game. This one was a tribute to his partnership with Sergei Mozyakin and Jan Kovar: a rare misplaced shot from Mozyakin turned into a pass to the Czech, who delivered a lovely no-look assist on his backhand for Zaripov to score from close range. The frustration was starting to show for Ak Bars, and Denis Golubev immediately found himself in trouble after picking a fight with Kovar as Metallurg celebrated the goal. A double minor for roughing did little to aid his team’s prospects, even if the visitor successfully killed the penalty. Into the final stanza, and Ak Bars struggled to find those shooting chances. On several occasions, promising positions faded away without Magnitka’s goalie being called into action. The final blow came in the 58^th minute, when a penalty on Yarullin robbed Bilyaletdinov’s team of the chance to unleash a final storm on the home net. In the end, Koshechkin finished with 30 saves and a shut-out. Metallurg ultimately came closest to adding to the score, with two efforts hitting the frame of the goal. Defenseman Evgeny Biryukov’s shot found Oskar Osala’s stick on its way through to the net; the Finn’s deflection took the puck onto the post, much to Garipov’s relief. Then, in the dying seconds, Alexander Semin pinged one off the piping as the Ak Bars defense got stretched in the quest for a fightback. The action now switches to Kazan, with Ak Bars hoping that home ice advantage can help claw back a 0-2 deficit in the series. Game 3 - Ak Bars v Metallurg 2-3 - Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Danis Zaripov scored two goals in the last four minutes of this game, snatching a dramatic victory for Metallurg and pushing Ak Bars to the brink of elimination in the Eastern Conference Final. It seemed that home ice advantage was helping the Kazan team claw its way back into this series as the team led 2-1 going into the closing stages of game three … but Zaripov had other ideas. The former Ak Bars man has been in commanding form throughout these playoffs: his double tonight takes him to 15 goals and equals Evgeny Dadonov’s KHL post-season record with, potentially, a Grand Final series still to come. More importantly, his late salvo here turned the game around and a handy 2-1 lead was transformed into a commanding 3-0 advantage in the series. The transformation began in the 57^th minute. Zaripov’s 14^th post-season goal came on the wraparound after Chris Lee’s slap shot thundered into the boards and left Emil Garipov sprawling across his crease to try to cover the danger. Jan Kovar’s quick-thinking steered the puck away from the goalie into Zaripov’s path behind the net, and the experienced goal-poacher reacted quickly to whisk it away behind the target and in at the opposite post. Then came the game-winner on 58:38. Again, Kovar supplied the feed, collecting Viktor Antipin’s pass and sliding it into the danger zone. This time, even a crowd of defensemen couldn’t deny Zaripov, who turned neatly to place a low shot in off the post and secure a vital victory. The former Ak Bars player has now plundered four goals in three games in this series, and has found the net in seven of his last eight outings as the defending champion hunts an unprecedented third Gagarin Cup triumph.
Earlier, Ak Bars took the lead with a power play goal in the 13^th minute. As the shots flew in on Vasily Koshechkin, Albert Yarullin saw his effort blocked. Jiri Sekac fed the puck out wide to Justin Azevedo, who picked his spot on the open side of Koshechkin’s net to make it 1-0.
The home team deserved to be in front, having the better of the opening period as Metallurg’s offense was strangely subdued for long periods and Magnitka picked up too many penalties. But the second period was almost the opposite, with the visitor creating far more dangerous moments and Ak Bars hitting penalty trouble of its own. Twice, Metallurg hit the piping. In the 23^rd minute, a Sergei Mozyakin shot flashed across the slot and hit the skate of Atte Ohtamaa. The Finnish defenseman watched in horror as the puck slid towards the net, only to be reprieved when it bounced off the post to safety. Then Tomas Filippi rattled the bar from close range as Ak Bars began to feel the pressure. Finally, Magnitka converted one of its chances and, yet again, it was Mozyakin who made the difference. On the power play, he combined with Lee and Zaripov to probe at the home defense. Ak Bars worked hard at keeping the puck out on the fringes of the zone, but was powerless when a shooting lane opened up for Mozyakin at the top of the right-hand circle and he shot past Garipov as Kovar threw up a screen. Ak Bars hit back, and regained the lead early in the third thanks to Mikhail Glukhov, with a bit of help from luckless D-man Alexander Budkin. After Koshechkin gave up a big rebound from a hopeful dump into the Metallurg zone, Glukhov was first to the puck and flew past Yaroslav Khabarov before whipping in a low shot. It looked to be going wide of the target until it got caught up in Budkin’s skates and the ricochet deceived Koshechkin and squeezed through his five-hole. With 14 minutes to play, the home crowd scented a win that would get their team firmly on the comeback trail … but Zaripov was ready to re-write the script in the closing minutes. The teams meet again here in Kazan on Thursday, with Ak Bars knowing that only victory will suffice if its playoff run is to continue into the weekend. Game 4 - Ak Bars v Metallurg 1-4 - Thursday, March 30, 2017
Sergei Mozyakin celebrated his 36th birthday in style, setting yet another record and helping his team into its third Gagarin Cup Final in four seasons. Mozyakin got the third goal for Magnitka on the night, having previously posted two helpers. He reinstated the defending champion’s two-goal advantage in the game, pushed the outcome beyond the home team and claimed his 54th goal of the season. That added one more achievement to Mozyakin’s bulging collection of personal triumphs, it overtook the 53 goals that CSKA’s Veniamin Alexandrov scored in the Soviet Championship of 1962-3 to establish another All-Time Russian record. It was a poacher’s goal, robbing Damir Musin on the face-off spot, arcing round to the edge of the opposite circle and flinging a wrister onto the top shelf. Emil Garipov, who, moments earlier, denied Mozyakin in a one-on-one, had no chance; history, yet again, was made. Mozyakin had featured in his team’s first-period goals as well. For the opener, a power play goal in the sixth minute, his pass from the corner enabled Chris Lee to pick out Jan Kovar at the far post and the Czech made no mistake from close range. Five minutes later, another power play, and Mozyakin was marauding out on the right. He fired a pass across the face of the net and, after Kovar’s shot was blocked, Viktor Antipin followed up to double the lead. Ak Bars refused to give up, pulling a goal back late in the first. Albert Yarullin fired the puck in from the point, Justin Azevedo ended up on his hands and knees as he pushed it into the path of Jiri Sekac and the close-range finish offered the host some hope of prolonging the series.
The fighting spirit endured, even when Ak Bars was reduced to three men late in the middle stanza. Indeed, the home team delivered a master-class of committed penalty kill. Lee collected the puck for Magnitogorsk at the point and was startled to find Stepan Zakharchuk leaping back into the game to challenge him. Lee managed to prevent a dangerous counter attack, but only at the cost of a tripping penalty that wiped out the rest of Metallurg’s power play. However, the tide was flowing decisively in Magnitka’s favor. The third period began with a fourth goal, and for once Mozyakin wasn’t on the ice for it. Instead Denis Platonov let fly with a devastating shot from the edge of the circle after the puck dropped for him as Denis Kazionov collided with Andrei Popov. The only thing missing was a goal from Danis Zaripov, on the mark in the three previous games against Ak Bars and tied for the KHL’s playoff goalscoring record ahead of the game. Unusually, Zaripov did not manage a single shot on goal this time, but with a minimum of four more games in this post-season it seems likely that another milestone will be clocked up by Metallurg’s imposing offense. Metallurg moves on to next week’s Gagarin Cup Final after completing its second successive sweep. In total, Ilya Vorobyov’s team has lost just once in post-season, suffering defeat in Beijing in game four of its first-round match-up with Kunlun Red Star. Now it prepares to face SKA in a match-up between the last two champions in a clash of the titans scheduled to start on Saturday, April 8 in Magnitogorsk.

KHL - Playoffs - Round 2 - Ak Bars Kazan v Avangard Omsk - Ak Bars Win Series 4-2

Game 1 - Avangard v Ak Bars 1-2 OT - Thursday, March 09, 2017

There was more late drama for Ak Bars in a post-season full of last-minute goals, but Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team shrugged off Avangard’s last-gasp leveller to win this one in overtime. Artyom Lukoyanov got the vital goal 117 seconds into the extras to give the Kazan team the first victory of the series.
Lukoyanov collected the puck after Rafael Batyrshin dumped it in the corner. Holding off the attentions of Pyotr Khokhryakov, the forward managed to circle around to the face-off sport where a shooting lane opened up for him. With Mikhail Varnakov closing in on home goalie Dominik Furch, Lukoyanov’s shot squeezed through the Czech’s five-hole; agonizing for Avangard, awesome for Ak Bars. Prior to the series between Avangard and Ak Bars, few expected a high-scoring clash. The two teams went into action more or less evenly matched, while Ak Bars had come through a tight, low-scoring series against Salavat Yulaev to reach this stage of the competition. Those expectations proved to be spot on for the opening game of the Eastern Conference Semi-final. A solitary goal, scored by Ak Bars captain Alexander Svitov just after the halfway point, seemed destined to settle the outcome until his Avangard counterpart Evgeny Medvedev tied the game in the last minute. Chances were hardly abundant at either end: neither team managed more than 10 shots on goal in any period, as both sides focused on careful defense throughout the game. Even the penalty count was fairly low, despite the visitor’s Atte Ohtamaa picking up a minor for tripping inside the first minute. Svitov’s opener came on the power play, with Ak Bars making use of the extra space around Furch’s net to force home the only goal of the game. Vladimir Tkachyov started the move, marauding down the right and picking out Jiri Sekac in front of the net. Sekac, who had sneaked clear of Vladimir Sobotka, got his shot away; Svitov got the crucial touch as the puck bounced around in the slot. It looked set to be the winning goal until Avangard’s final push. The home team called a time out in the 59th minute, and Fyodor Kanareikin found the words to inspire his men. Play restarted with a face-off just outside the Ak Bars zone, and Avangard’s six men won possession. The puck was dumped into the corner, Ilya Mikheyev gave chase and passed to Anton Burdasov. Burdasov duly fed Medvedev at the point, and the D-man’s shot flew through some heavy traffic around Emil Garipov’s net to tie the scores on 59:11. Avangard, briefly, had found salvation, but Lukoyanov’s winner soon shattered the home team’s hopes of a winning start.
Game 2 - Avangard v Ak Bars 0-2 - Saturday, March 11, 2017

Ak Bars took control of this Eastern Conference Semi-final series with a 2-0 win in Omsk, setting up a 2-0 series lead as the action heads to Kazan next week.
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s 1,000^th game as head coach in Russia’s top league was an illustration of the man’s gameplan. For more than a decade, Bilyaletdinov has built winning teams on solid defensive foundations, and in Omsk his players executed that strategy to perfection once again. Indeed, after producing just six shots on goal in the first two periods, some might argue that this was almost a caricature of the Ak Bars style, an effort to stifle the opposition taken some way beyond its logical conclusion and inviting allegations of harming the game by virtue of its commitment to defensive caution and patient counter-attacks. But the key feature of Bilyaletdinov’s coaching career is not defensive play and shut-outs, it’s victories. And, not for the first time, his tactics came up trumps in a big game. Ak Bars played a waiting game, allowing the home team to see wave after wave of offense crash against a wall of visiting D-men before capitalizing late on as fatigue and frustration took its toll on the host. For much of the meeting the visitor concentrated on neutralizing the threat posed by the likes of Vladimir Sobotka and Anton Burdasov, key figures among the Avangard forwards at various stages of this season. That task was accomplished successfully: the home team kept Emil Garipov busy in goal, but rarely carved open the visiting rearguard to expose the netminder to series danger. Then, as the game moved into the last 10 minutes, the Ak Bars offense stealthily moved into action. Mikhail Varnakov tested Domink Furch from long range, Jiri Sekac went close with a chance off a rebound and Vladimir Tkachyov got free but could not beat the goalie from a tight angle. Suddenly, there was pressure on Avangard. Mikhail Yunkov picked up a hooking penalty, and for the first time in the game, Ak Bars had a power play, with four and a half minutes to play. That was the chance the visitor needed. Fyodor Malykhin grabbed the vital goal in the 57^th minute. Justin Azevedo teamed up with Tkachyov behind the Avangard net to get the puck back out in front; Malykhin, centrally positioned just inside the right-hand circle, despatched a one-timer past Furch. Avangard, facing the prospect of giving its rival a 2-0 lead before the action moves to Kazan, looked for inspiration in the closing minutes. Off came Furch as Fyodor Kanareikin called a time out to try to inspire his team to an equalizer. The gamble failed: Michal Jordan won back possession on the boards and, from inside his own zone, sent the puck all the way up the ice and into the empty net. Victory for Ak Bars, 2-0 on the night and a 2-0 lead in the series with home ice advantage to come.
Game 3 - Ak Bars v Avangard 3-4 OT - Monday, March 13, 2017

Avangard seems intent on doing things the hard way in this series, flirting with allowing Ak Bars a 3-0 lead before rallying to get off the mark with an overtime victory. David Booth got the decisive goal nine minutes into the extras. The D-man started the move by keeping the puck alive at the point, and finished it by tucking away Evgeny Medvedev’s pass to the slot after the Avangard captain had deceived the home defense by feinting to shoot. For a team that looked to be heading to a third successive defeat at the first intermission, the goal transformed the whole complexion of the series. For Medvedev, it was the third assist of the night. The defenseman also had a hand in Valentin Pyanov’s 58th-minute game-tying goal. After Avangard spent much of the final stanza trying desperately to tie the game, a power play late on gave it one last chance. Medvedev found Ilya Zubov in a dangerous position, the forward looked to a swing a pass out across the ice but saw the puck get caught up in Pyanov’s skates and, amid the confusion, the 25-year-old fired in a shot to claim his first playoff goal of the year … and a timely one. Earlier, it was a very different story. Ak Bars, buoyed by two road wins in Omsk, took little time to settle into the comforts of home, rattling two goals in the first six minutes of this game. The game was just 95 seconds old when Fyodor Lukoyanov put the home team ahead, wrapping up a careful build-up off assists from Rafael Batyrshin and Fyodor Malykhin. A few minutes later Ak Bars had a power play, David Booth was called for kneeing, and Andrei Popov converted the opportunity as his stick got to Albert Yarullin’s shot from the blue line. But Avangard hit back quickly with Zubov’s first goal of the night, finishing off a beautiful passing move with Ilya Mikheyev and Jonas Ahnelov to halve the deficit and establish a vital bridgehead in the game. At first, though, it seemed that the home team would move on serenely especially after Popov conjured up another wonderful play to set up Anton Glinkin for a third goal before the first intermission. At this stage, it seemed that Ak Bars was well on its way to taking a 3-0 series lead, but Avangard began its revival. Zubov got his second of the night on a power play, wrapping up another neat passing move to halve the deficit. Then Zubov helped out on Pyanov’s equalizer, and suddenly the game, and perhaps the series, was transformed.
Game 4 - Ak Bars v Avangard 2-1 - Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Ak Bars is just one game away from defeating Avangard for the third time in KHL playoff action, but fans in Kazan endured an anxious third period before their heroes delivered the victory. At first it all seemed straightforward for the host. A powerful first period saw Ak Bars take the game its opponent right from the start, and that pressure yielded two unanswered goals. Captain Alexander Svitov got the first in the 10^th minute, getting away from Vitaly Menshikov on the boards and heading to the face-off spot before shooting on goal. The attempt did not look all that dangerous when it left Svitov’s stick, but goalie Dominik Furch fumbled his attempted glove save and swatted the puck against the bar and in off his own back as he flailed desperately around the crease. Then the in-form Andrei Popov found the net late in the opening stanza, adding to his goal and assist in Monday’s meeting. This time he got his stick to Damir Musin’s shot from the point and dragged the puck across the face of the wrong-footed Furch and into the bottom corner. Avangard successfully clawed back a two-goal deficit after the first period on Monday, and sought to repeat that trick again tonight. However, the home defense was in a less obliging mood, stonewalling the Omsk offense in the middle session. That all changed early in the third, when Nikolai Lemtyugov halved the deficit. Vladimir Sobotka made it, cutting out an attempted clearance and kickstarting an attack down the left. As the Ak Bars defense scrambled to cut out his path to goal, the Czech paused and saw Lemtyugov unmarked in the opposite circle. An accurate pass gave his team-mate a routine chance to finish as Emil Garipov struggled to shut down the angles in time. Suddenly the balance of play was different. Avangard could see a way back, Ak Bars faced more pressure on its defense. The tension rose, with neither side able to grab a vital goal. In the closing moments a penalty on Albert Yarullin handed Avangard a power play, and with Furch called to the bench the visitor finished with a 6-on-4 advantage. It was time for players to put their bodies on the line, and Mikhail Varnakov made a huge block to deny Avangard a scoring chance. Sobotka almost forced overtime in the dying seconds with a powerful shot from the circle, but Garipov held on and Ak Bars claimed the victory. The action heads back to Siberia on Friday, with Avangard needing a win on home ice to prolong this series and remain in contention for a Conference Final showdown against Metallurg.
Game 5 - Avangard v Ak Bars 4-1 - Friday, March 17, 2017

Life without the club mascot proved unlucky for Ak Bars as Avangard powered to a home victory that kept the series alive. Goals from Nikolai Lemtyugov, Anton Burdasov and Ilya Zubov steered the home team to the win, while the Ak Bars mascot was denied admission to the game following a mix-up between the two teams. It emerged that Ak Bars had mistakenly registered the costumed character as a regular fan, and not a performer. As such, he could not enter the arena with his face concealed; if the host allowed this, it could face a big fine. In the absence of its talisman, Ak Bars missed the chance to wrap up the series in five games and must wait until Sunday at the earliest to book a Conference Final showdown against Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The opening goal came in the 13^th minute, created by Avangard’s long-serving forward Alexander Perezhogin. He halted Stepan Zakharchuk’s attempt to bring the puck out of the visitor’s zone and delivered the pass for Lemtyugov to fire home the opening goal. The first period belonged to Avangard, but after the intermission Ak Bars raised its game and began to pose a serious threat to Dominik Furch’s net. Even so, Avangard doubled its lead with a counter-attacking goal of deceptive simplicity midway through the second period. As Evgeny Medvedev and Yegor Martynov tidied up play behind their own net, an attempted line change went decisively in the home team’s favor. Martynov slung the puck in front of the benches as Burdasov was joining the game. The forward collected the pass and advanced to shoot past Emil Garipov from the right-hand circle. Ak Bars, much improved the middle stanza, found itself facing a mountain to climb. It got even better for the home team early in the third. Beginning the session on the power play, Avangard quickly added a third goal when Medvedev found Zubov in space between the hash marks and the forward took two touches to put the puck beyond Garipov. Ak Bars finally got on the scoreboard in response to Zubov’s goal. Exploiting a power play of its own, the visitor advanced. Vladimir Tkachyov fired the puck into the danger zone and after Alexander Svitov’s close-range shot was blocked, Jiri Sekac put away the rebound to offer his team a way back into the game. But any hope of a revival, and potentially a series win tonight, was ended when Burdasov got his second of the game in the 51^st minute. This time, Vladimir Sobotka was the architect, kick-starting the play on the Ak Bars blue line, exchanging passes with Burdasov and shooting the puck through a crowd of players in front of the net. Somehow, the disk danced through a forest of stick and skate and arrived for Burdasov to shoot into an unguarded target and put the game beyond the visitor’s reach. Ak Bars had one big chance to salvage an unlikely recovery, enjoying an extended 5-on-3 advantage after Perezhogin was ejected for boarding Zakharchuk and Lemtyugov got a minor, but the home defense closed out the game without undue alarm. The action continues on Saturday in Kazan, with Ak Bars looking to wrap up the series at the second attempt.
Game 6 - Ak Bars v Avangard 5-0 - Sunday, March 19, 2017

A ruthless performance from Ak Bars gave Avangard no hope of prolonging this series into a game seven showdown. From the moment Fyodor Malykhin put the host ahead on the first power play of the night, there was only one winner. Three unanswered goals in the second period put the outcome beyond any doubt, and in the third Albert Yarullin wrapped up an emphatic victory with another PP marker. After a subdued start to proceedings as the Tatneft Arena observed a minute’s silence in memory of renowned player, coach and commentator Sergei Gimayev, the game sparked to life almost immediately. Avangard’s Erik Gustafsson picked up a tripping penalty and Ak Bars converted the power play in the fifth minute. Justin Azevedo attacked down the left and swung the puck across the ice to the unmarked Vladimir Tkachyov. He drilled it back across the face of Dominik Furch’s net and Malykhin was on hand to turn it into the goal. With a lead to defend, Ak Bars did just that: Avangard managed just three shots on Emil Garipov’s net in the opening stanza, and rarely looked capable of tying the scores. The second period began in much the same manner as the first. Avangard took an early penalty, Ak Bars took full advantage. Jiri Sekac was the scorer this time, enjoying a straightforward finish from the slot after Malykhin supplied the killer pass from the goal line. The visitor’s problems quickly increased. Barely a minute later, Artyom Lukoyanov made it 3-0 with Malykhin at the heart of things again. He advanced down the right on the counter attack and, with the Avangard defense flat-footed, Lukoyanov collected a pass between the hash marks and fired home a wrister that left Furch with no chance. There was still more to come. Sergei Orlov took a double-minor for roughing, and he had barely returned to the game when Tkachyov added a fourth to go with his three earlier assists. The play started with Stepan Zakharchuk’s pass from blue line to blue line, picking out Andrei Chibisov. The D-man continued his own advance and took a return pass from Chibisov to move into a shooting position at the left-hand face-off spot. However, he spotted Tkachyov unmarked on the opposite side of the ice and set up his team-mate to leave Furch with too much ground to recover as the shot came in. The game was done and the final stanza lacked some of the intensity of what had gone before. But there was still time for one last flourish from the host, setting the stamp on a series win with a late power play goal from Yarullin. His slap shot from a central position was too good for Oleg Shilin, Avangard’s replacement goalie, and completed the scoring. Ak Bars now advances to play Metallurg in a mouth-watering match-up between two old rivals. Both teams have hopes of making history by becoming the first to lift the Gagarin Cup three times, and the action promises to be relentless when the series starts in the Urals on Thursday.

KHL - Playoffs - Round 2 - SKA v Dynamo Moscow - SKA Win Series 4-1

Game 1 - SKA v Dynamo Moscow 2-3 SO - Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Dynamo Moscow is fast becoming the overtime king of this post season. For the fifth time in six games the Blue-and-Whites went beyond the scheduled 60 minutes, and for the fourth time the Moscow team came out on top. Maxim Karpov was the hero, adding his third game-winner of the playoffs to his two markers in regulation, delivering the kind of MVP performance that once persuaded SKA head coach Oleg Znarok to sign him for Dynamo. His winning goal came in the 78^th minute after SKA was penalized for too many men. Juuso Hietanen fired in a powerful, if inaccurate, shot from the face-off spot and as the puck headed wide of Mikko Koskinen’s net it got caught up in Karpov’s skates. The forward kept his balance, took control of the situation and stuffed it home from close range to claim the win. Dynamo thought it had secured victory even before that after Yakov Rylov got the puck in the net in the 70^th minute. He bundled the disk over the line after Alexei Tsvetkov’s shot was blocked, but the goal was already off its moorings and the score was ruled out by the video officials. For many, it was a reminder of a notorious incident from the 2012 playoff meeting between these teams when SKA had an overtime goal ruled out on the video and Dynamo snatched victory on the night before going on to sweep the series. That night, Denis Mosalyov scored three for the visitor; this time Karpov became the new hat-trick hero. Karpov, another product of the Traktor organization, made his breakthrough back in the 2012-13 season when he, alongside fellow prospects Valery Nichushkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, helped the Chelyabinsk team to the Gagarin Cup final, where it lost to Dynamo. Karpov made an impression, and Oleg Znarok signed him for the Moscow club. Tonight, with Znarok behind the opposing bench, the forward was ready to shoot down the man who once hired him. He opened the scoring in the sixth minute, holding off the attentions of Yegor Yakovlev on the slot to force home Andrei Mironov’s pass from the point. After that, though, Dynamo struggled to make much of an impression on the home defense as SKA dominated but failed to get past Alexander Yeryomenko. The visiting goalie was finally beaten early in the second period after some fine interplay by the Shipachyov-Dadonov-Gusev line. Nikita Gusev brought the puck into the Dynamo zone, Evgeny Dadonov farmed it out to Vadim Shipachyov, and the forward drew Yeryomenko out of position before slipping a pass back to Gusev for a simple finish at the far post. With the scores level, and SKA so dominant for much of the game, it seemed almost inevitable that the home team would go ahead and take control. Dynamo, though, had other ideas. Apart from one good opportunity for Ilya Kovalchuk, the visitor largely limited the host to half chances. Then Karpov struck again. Alexei Tereshchenko’s feed found the 25-year-old in the right-hand circle. The angle was tight, but Karpov’s rising shot beat Mikko Koskinen at his near post, flying over the goalie’s shoulder to reinstate Dynamo’s lead. The final stanza was tense. Dynamo, noted for its solid defense, looked to keep SKA at arm’s length and preserve its slender advantage. SKA, renowned for its powerful offense, kept on looking for a way through. Chances were scarce at either end, and the clock was ticking towards an anxious finale for the home team when a power play finally brought the scores level. Pavel Datsyuk got the goal, no masterpiece, this time, but a precise finish off a Sergei Shirokov pass. And that was enough to take the game to a fast-paced and absorbing period of overtime.
Game 2 - SKA v Dynamo Moscow 2-0 - Friday, March 10, 2017
Two power play goals in the first period set SKA on the road to tying up this series and cancelling out Wednesday’s overtime loss despite a remarkable late goal from Dynamo’s Andrei Kuteikin. The game began at a high tempo, with chances at both ends in the early exchanges, but penalty trouble hurt the visitor badly as the host took control of the game. SKA went ahead in the 13^th minute while Alexei Tereshchenko sat out his hooking penalty. Anton Belov fired in a shot from the point, Alexander Yeryomenko saved but the rebound went straight to Jarno Koskiranta’s stick. The Finn’s shot got caught up in Evgeny Ketov’s legs, but the forward reacted smartly and stuffed the puck beyond Yeryomenko at the second attempt. That changed the balance of the game, with SKA starting to assume greater control of proceedings. And a second strike not long before the intermission offered them Army Men a measure of comfort. Vadim Shipachyov was the player left in space as Dynamo sought to kill another penalty, Nikita Gusev found him to set up the goal. In the middle session, SKA was the stronger team even though it failed to extend its lead. Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk produced several threatening moments, while the visitor was largely restricted to attempts from the blue line as the home defense worked hard to protect Mikko Koskinen’s net. Dynamo would not lie down, and after a post season full of overtime games there was no doubt about the Blue-and-Whites’ resilience under pressure. But this time there would be no grand revival as SKA did a great defensive job for much of the third period. True, the home team was unable to land a third, knock-out blow on its opponent, but as anyone in hockey will tell you, teams that don’t shoot find it hard to score. Dynamo was limited to just three shots on goal in the final stanza, strangling any chance of forcing yet another period of overtime. One of those shots, though, was a sensation: Kuteikin, frustrated by the solid SKA defense, let fly from well inside his own half and saw the puck rear up off the ice to beat the startled Koskinen in stunning style. A memorable moment for the Dynamo D-man, but not enough to change the outcome of this game.
Game 3 - Dynamo Moscow v SKA 2-4 - Sunday, March 12, 2017
Three players expelled from the game, another red-line goal from Dynamo’s Andrei Kuteikin and a hard-fought victory for SKA head coach Oleg Znarok in front of his former fans in Moscow, game three of this series had plenty of talking points. This gritty clash was settled by two power play goals early in the third period, with the visitor turning around a 1-2 deficit following Lukas Kaspar’s expulsion from the game. Kaspar’s ejection deep in the second period was a turning point. At that time, Dynamo was leading 2-1 and SKA was smarting from a similar sanction against Pavel Datsyuk. The Magic Man rarely gets into trouble, but he was called for charging after a big hit on Alexei Tsvetkov left the Dynamo man needing to be helped from the ice. There was a sense that everything was going astray for the visitor, until Kaspar was sent to the locker room for crunching Sergei Shirokov into the boards with the puck far away. Like Tsvetkov, Shirokov needed assistance to get back to the bench. Early in the third, Alexei Tereshchenko picked up a minor, giving SKA a 5-on-3 opportunity. Vadim Shipachyov duly tied the scores, firing home from a tight angle off Nikita Gusev’s pass. Within a minute, it was 3-2, after Evgeny Dadonov forced home the rebound following Anton Belov’s shot. The drama continued: Alexander Dergachyov became the third player to get an early place in the showers after the SKA forward was called for checking to the head. But, having seen its lead crumble as it failed to kill a major penalty, Dynamo was unable to inflict similar punishment on the opposition. SKA held out, and then had chances to extend its lead: a penalty on Dmitry Vishnevsky, a one-on-one chance for Dadonov to test Alexander Yeryomenko from close range. At the other end, Dynamo had fleeting moments, but struggled to find the killer pass to unlock the visiting defense. An empty-net goal from Ilya Kovalchuk put the outcome beyond doubt. Earlier, things had looked brighter for the home team. Yakov Rylov fired the Blue-and-Whites ahead early on, scoring off a Denis Kokarev pass despite SKA’s claims of offside. Even after Jarno Koskiranta levelled the scores in the 10^th minute, Dynamo got back in front thanks to another mighty strike from Kuteikin, who spotted the chance to lash in another shot from the red line and beat Mikko Koskinen for the second game in a row. But then the penalties started coming, and SKA kept its collective nerve to turn the game around and claim the lead in the series.
Game 4 - Dynamo Moscow v SKA 1-4 - Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Dynamo Moscow likes to include a remix of cult Russian rock song ‘Gruppa Krovi’ in its gameday music. The refrain about ‘wish me luck in the battle’ fits the context, but a less familiar line about not seeking ‘victory at any price’ seems slightly odd, especially when the post-season stakes are high. Unfortunately for the Blue-and-Whites, Tuesday’s game was more about the latter as Dynamo failed to take the lead despite turning the screws in the early stages of this game. Even D-man Andrei Mironov, hardly a regular scorer, got in on the act as he slalomed through the visiting defense only to fail against the pads of Mikko Koskinen. But chances for Denis Kokarev and Yakov Rylov all came to naught and when a SKA breakaway ended in a penalty on Konstantin Gorovikov midway through the stanza, the pattern of play changed. Dynamo successfully killed that penalty, but struggled to regain its early momentum. SKA posed more of a threat and took the lead in the 17^th minute when Jarno Koskiranta fed Anton Belov for a powerful shot from the left-hand face-off circle. That goal came seconds after second home PK; Oleg Znarok’s fist pump said much for his relief at gaining an edge in a tight game. The middle stanza could have been the moment for Kokarev to turn the game around. Twice the Dynamo forward threatened: in the 25^th minute his shot beat Koskinen and bounced off both posts before rebounding to safety. Moments later, he robbed Dinar Khafizullin deep in SKA territory, but the goalie’s pads kept SKA ahead. Finally, Dynamo’s experienced forward did find the net, tying the game in the 37^th minute after Artyom Podshendyalov led a rush from his own zone and Kokarev’s shot good a helpful deflection off Patrik Hersley. Some good luck in the battle at last. But all too soon, fortune swung back behind the visitor. Sergei Shirokov, whose previous game saw him on the receiving end of a brutal hit from Lukas Kaspar, hit Dynamo where it hurts in the last minute of the period. The Blue-and-Whites gave up possession after a long but unthreatening spell in SKA’s zone and Alexander Barabanov looked to capitalize. He fired the puck to the net, and Shirokov was on hand to force home the rebound before staring down a section of home support. After a check on the video, the goal was given and SKA was back in front. The final period was another case of little luck and missed chances for the home team. Going forward, things looked good until the final shot. Daniil Tarasov and Martins Karsums were both thwarted by Koskinen, while the visiting defense did well to hold the host at arm’s length and restrict the bulk of the shooting chances to distant efforts from D-men. Then, almost inevitably, came the sucker punch. A SKA power play and a decisive goal for Hersley. Belov and Shirokov combined to find the Swede at the top of the circle and his slapper made it over Alexander Yeryomenko’s glove to end Dynamo's hopes. The same player was involved again as Evgeny Ketov fired into the empty net for 4-1; SKA looks poised to wrap up this series.
Game 5 - SKA v Dynamo Moscow 2-0 - Thursday, March 16, 2017

SKA advanced to the Western Conference final for the third year in a row after ending Dynamo’s resistance in game five. The visitor, shocked by the hospitalization of head coach Sergei Oreshkin on the eve of the game, went into action with Vladimir Vorobyov standing in behind the bench. However, Vorobyov oversaw a struggle for his charges. Evgeny Ketov set the tone when he hit the post in the second minute, while at the other end there were few opportunities to take the puck to Mikko Koskinen’s net in the first two periods. SKA dominated, outshooting Dynamo 16-4 in both of those sessions, but for a long time it could not find a way past Alexander Yeryomenko. The veteran goalie, twice the inspiration behind Gagarin Cup wins for the Blue-and-Whites, held firm against the onslaught until the 35^th minute when the home team’s persistence paid off at last. Patrik Hersley, increasingly influential in this post season, took a pass from Nikita Gusev and shot at Yeryomenko. But the Swede gathered the rebound and had the composure to return the puck to Gusev and the forward had little difficulty in catching the goalie out of position.
Once ahead, SKA quickly increased its lead. Artyom Zub’s shot from the blue line found Ilya Kovalchuk right in front of Yeryomenko, and the goalie had no chance to react as Kovy deflected the puck into the net. Two periods played, two goals in front and SKA was on its way to the final four. Dynamo tried to raise its offensive efforts in the third period, and finally began to give Koskinen something to think about. Alexei Tsvetkov tested the goalie from a good position early on, Maxim Karpov, whose hat-trick to win the first game of this series feels a long time ago now, hit the post as he emerged from behind the net. But those efforts came to naught, Koskinen completed a shut-out with 20 saves and SKA marches on to face CSKA or Lokomotiv when the Conference Final begins in a week’s time. For Dynamo, playoff defeats to SKA are becoming something of a habit. The Moscow team twice defeated its rival from the Northern Capital on its way to those Gagarin Cup wins of 2012 and 2013, but has now lost out in four successive post seasons. This season, for the first time, former Dynamo head coach Oleg Znarok was the mastermind of his former club’s downfall, an extra sting in the tail for the Muscovites and further grounds for SKA fans to hope that the club can add to its 2015 triumph by the end of April.

KHL - Playoffs - Round 2 - CSKA Moscow v Lokomotiv Yaroslavl - Lokomotiv Win Series 4-2

Game 1 - CSKA v Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4-2 - Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Two goals from Andrei Svetlakov paced CSKA to victory in the opening game of this Western Conference Semi-final series. The youngster converted two power play chances to give the Army Men the edge and maintain his team’s perfect post-season record. Stephane Da Costa gave CSKA the ideal start with a third-minute goal. The Frenchman got a vital touch on Sergei Alexeyev’s shot from the point as the Army Men kept Loko from clearing its zone in the early stages of the game. Then came a power play for CSKA, and the home team was quick to take advantage. Petri Kontiola spent just 17 seconds in the box before Andrei Svetlakov doubled the lead, lifting the puck over the prone Alexei Murygin after the goalie had denied Kirill Petrov from close range. For a moment, it seemed that Lokomotiv was running off the rails. But the Railwaymen boast a deadly PP of their own, and when Alexander Popov picked up a minor for tripping, Lokomotiv wheeled out the big guns. Defensive duo Staffan Kronwall and Jakub Nakladal had enjoyed great success in the series against Dinamo Minsk, and the pair combined here to reduce the arrears. Nakladal, centrally positioned just inside the blue line, traded passes with Kronwall in the right-hand circle before stepping up to shoot past Ilya Sorokin. Lokomotiv only managed four shots on target in the first period, but still had a vital goal and a lifeline in the game. Nakladal then tied it up in the second period, with Brandon Kozun collecting his 10^th assist of the playoffs. CSKA’s defense fluffed the chances to clear its lines, with Ivan Telegin failing to get a strong contact on the puck as he looked to sweep it away from his net. Kozun collected it, fed Nakladal, and the Czech saw his shot flip up off the stick of the luckless Telegin and deceive Sorokin as it went in off the bar. Parity did not last long. Another Kontiola penalty led to another Svetlakov goal as CSKA regained the initiative. Petrov was involved once again, feeding Svetlakov as the youngster waiting on the goal line. His attempt to play the puck into the danger zone paid off: Mikhail Pashnin slid in to clear, but could only push it into the net with his skate to put the home team back in front in the 29^thminute. This time, CSKA would not relinquish its lead. The second period was enlivened by a fight between Jan Mursak and Pavel Kraskovsky, the Lokomotiv man got the better of that battle, but finished on the losing side in the game, while the battered Mursak did not return to the ice after serving his penalty for fighting. The third saw Sergei Andronov wrap up the win when he made it 4-2 during a spell of four-on-four hockey. CSKA swiftly turned defense into offense, with Andronov setting Telegin on a charge towards Murygin’s net. The goalie blocked the first attempt, but offered up a tempting rebound for Andronov to gobble up. Lokomotiv was done, and CSKA had the early initiative in this series. It wasn’t all good news for the home team, though. Forward Greg Scott was helped off the ice late in the first period after taking a hit to the head from Lokomotiv’s Rushan Rafikov. Dmitry Kvartalnov later described it as “very serious” and feared that the Canadian would not play again in this series.
Game 2 - CSKA v Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3-4 - Friday, March 10, 2017

Lokomotiv hit back in game two, tying the series before heading to home ice for the next meeting on Sunday. Both teams were forced to reshuffle after CSKA’s victory in the series opener on Wednesday. Injuries to Jan Mursak and Greg Scott prompted returns for the Army Men’s Valery Nichushkin and Artyom Voroshilo. Lokomotiv also had an enforced change, with Rushan Rafikov’s suspension for his hit on Scott leading to a call-up for Denis Osipov. CSKA enjoyed the better of the opening stages, but fell behind to a freakish goal credited to Daniil Apalkov. Denis Denisov seemed to have all the time in the world to control the puck and clear it from danger after Apalkov sent a hopeful pass across the face of CSKA’s net with no Loko forward within sight. But the vastly experienced Denisov suffered a costly lapse of concentration and, after controlling the puck, he mishit his intended clearance and looked on in horror as Ilya Sorokin saw the disk squirm through the five-hole and into the net. Behind the home bench, Dmitry Kvartalnov’s face was a mixture of bewilderment and fury; Lokomotiv celebrated a gift-wrapped goal. That hardly reflected the balance of play in the opening stanza, though, and there was a sense of justice being done when Nichushkin created a fantastic equalizer with 30 seconds to play in the period. The forward collected the puck at the top of the left-hand face-off circle and set off for the net. He slalomed his way through the visiting defense then, unselfishly, slipped the puck to Alexander Popov for a close-range finish. Despite dominating the play, CSKA could do little to prevent Lokomotiv regaining the lead early in the middle frame. Andrei Loktionov won a face-off in the home zone, the puck came back to Yegor Averin and he whipped home a wrister that left Sorokin with no chance. Home frustrations mounted as chances came and went in the second period but Lokomotiv held on to its lead. The visitor’s power play has been one of the most effective weapons in view during this year’s playoffs, and Petri Kontiola reminded CSKA of its potency once again early in the third period. The Finn made it 3-1 in the 44^th minute, getting a deft touch on a Jakub Nakladal shot to beat Sorokin. The Army Men responded almost immediately, with Geoff Platt scoring against one of his former clubs after Dmitry Kugryshev squeezed out a pass even as he fell to the ice. But 15 minutes was not enough to save the home team. Another flurry of penalties, shared between both sides, disrupted the flow of the game and Lokomotiv benefited thanks to some perceptive play from Averin. With a scrum unfolding around the CSKA net, Averin had the presence of mind to slip the puck away from goal and into the path of Andrei Loktionov, who needed no second invitation to fire into the unguarded side of Sorokin’s target. The importance of that goal became even clearer in the last minute when Nichushkin tucked away the rebound from a Stephane Da Costa shot to make it 3-4, but Lokomotiv held on to claim the win.
Game 3 - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl v CSKA 1-2 - Sunday, March 12, 2017

Stephane Da Costa moved onto seven playoff points with a goal and an assist to help CSKA claim a series lead against Lokomotiv. The French international had a helper as Kirill Petrov opened the scoring in the first period, then delivered the game-winner in the third after Dmitry Lugin had tied the scores. Prior to the start of this series, the focus had been on Lokomotiv’s special teams. The Railwaymen had dominated the power play against Dinamo Minsk, while its PK had chipped in with an impressive trio of short-handed goals. The evidence suggested that penalty trouble could cost CSKA in this match-up. And, indeed, penalties played a key role in determining the outcome of this game, but it was Loko that was on the receiving end. The home team fluffed its lines on the PP, and offered too many opportunities for CSKA to enjoy a numerical advantage at the other end. The first chance came midway through the first period and, after diligently probing in the Loko zone, the Army Men went in front with barely 10 seconds of the power play left. Da Costa got to the goal line and fired a pass across the ice to the unmarked Petrov, who beat Alexei Murygin with a wrist shot. Loko levelled early in the second, with Lugin scoring from close range after Yegor Averin’s rush down the right caused chaos in the CSKA defense. But the home power play was faltering. A four-minute advantage in the first period had already been spurned, and late in the middle stanza the visitor had two minors in quick succession, giving Loko an extended period of 5-on-4 hockey without generating a goal. That was even more costly when CSKA showed how to capitalize on an advantage early in the third. Jakub Nakladal and Vladislav Gavrikov picked up minor penalties, and Da Costa made the most of the 5-on-3 situation. The Frenchman exchanged passes with Bogdan Kiselevich before smashing a one-timer low past Murygin from the top of the face-off circle. Two assists for Kiselevich, 1+1 for da Costa and a 2-1 lead that was sufficient to see CSKA claim the win and move ahead in the series. Loko’s penalty problems continued, Petri Kontiola found himself in the sin-bin as CSKA got an unexpected second chance at 5-on-3 play. It didn’t produce another goal, but it scuppered the home team’s hopes of building up some momentum to finish the game. Lokomotiv was allowed just three shots on Viktor Fasth’s net in the third period as the visitor shut the play down superbly to secure the win.
Game 4 - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl v CSKA 5-1 - Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Lokomotiv went goal crazy in the third period of this game to snatch a big victory against CSKA. The margin of the Railwaymen’s success suggests that not only have they tied the series, they may also have tipped the momentum in their favor as the action heads back to Moscow on Thursday. Initially, though, it was a very different game as CSKA had the better of the opening exchanges. Former Lokomotiv forward Geoff Platt did little to endear himself to his former fans when he poached an instinctive goal late in the first period to give CSKA the lead. The visitor had rarely posed a serious threat in a very even game, with even the Army Men’s sole power play chance barely ruffling Alexei Murygin’s composure. But when Artyom Voroshilo fired in a hopeful shot from long range, Murygin allowed a big rebound and after the goalie stopped Vladimir Zharkov’s attempt, Platt pounced to shoot home the opening goal. For Loko it was a case of frustration after an opening stanza that had seen the visitor largely stifled, albeit at the cost of calming the home offense at the same time. The best chance for the host came on the power play, with Max Talbot testing Viktor Fasth as he got a deflection on Staffan Kronwall’s shot, but after the Railwaymen found their special teams so potent against Dinamo Minsk, CSKA showed signs of blunting that weapon. In the second period, however, the home team finally got that PP back on the scoreboard. Max Talbot’s equalizer wasn’t the prettiest goal of the season, he forced the puck home from close range after Fasth blocked Jakub Nakladal’s long-range effort and Brandon Kozun’s attempt on the rebound, but for a Lokomotiv crowd that could sense the series starting to slip away it was undoubtedly one of the most important. The significance of that strike was underlined in the third period as Loko ran riot, firing home four unanswered goals to power to victory. Pavel Kraskovsky got the all-important 2-1 goal in the 44^th minute, left unattended on the slot to fire home Yegor Korshkov’s pass from behind the net. Then the Loko power play struck once again, taking just four seconds to turn Artyom Sergeyev’s interference call into a goal. Petri Kontiola won the face-off, Nakladal delivered a thumping shot to beat Fasth. Lokomotiv’s evening got even better in the 52^nd minute when Alexander Polunin squeezed home the fourth from a tight angle before further penalty trouble for CSKA saw Kozun complete the scoring late on. An emphatic victory to level the series … and possibly hand the momentum to the team from Yaroslavl.
Game 5 - CSKA v Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1-2 - Thursday, March 16, 2017

It’s advantage Lokomotiv as the Railwaymen snatched a vital victory in Moscow to move ahead in this series for the first time. Two first-period goals put the visitor on track for a win in game five, and moved the team to within one game of returning to the final four for the first time since 2014’s Western Conference Final defeat to Lev Prague. For CSKA, a beaten grand finalist last season, the pressure is on. Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team must go to Yaroslavl on Saturday and win if it is to continue pursuing its dream of Gagarin Cup glory. The game was won by Loko duo Vladislav Gavrikov and Yegor Averin. They both tallied a goal and an assist in the opening stanza, taking their combined playoff tally to 12 points and setting up a winning lead for the visitor. The opening goal came in the 14^th minute as Gavrikov turned defense into offense before feeding Andrei Loktionov. He picked out a diagonal pass for Averin at the far post, and the forward beat goalie Viktor Fasth to score with a backhand from close range.
The same line combined again on the power play to double the Railwaymen’s lead three minutes before the first intermission. This time Averin won the puck behind the net and fed Gavrikov out in front for the second goal of the night. Gavrikov almost added a third early in the middle session, but saw his 22^nd-minute attempt bounce to safety off the piping. CSKA, rattled, looked for a response and dominated the remaining two periods. But Alexander Sudnitsin, preferred to Alexei Murygin in the Loko net, proved hard to beat. The home team’s only goal of the game arrived late in the middle session. It was credited to Andrei Svetlakov, after the youngster deflected the puck past Sudnitsin, but the hard work came from Valery Nichushkin after he forced his way into a shooting position and sent a low effort skidding along the ice while the goalie was screened. The final stanza saw plenty of effort from CSKA, with Lokomotiv limited to just two shots on goal. But Sudnitsin was on top of the situation and kept his team in front. The goalie finished with 38 saves, delighting the small, unexpected group of South African Lokomotiv fans who came to the CSKA Arena in Moscow and putting his team to within one victory of clinching the series. Game six takes place in Yaroslavl on Saturday.
Game 6 - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl v CSKA 3-1 - Saturday, March 18, 2017
Lokomotiv steamed into the Western Conference final as it completed an upset win over regular-season champ CSKA to set up a showdown with SKA St. Petersburg next week. The Railwaymen made it three wins from three games to wrap up the series on home ice despite a committed attacking performance from a CSKA team determined to force a game seven decider in Moscow on Monday evening. A goal in each period, and a big penalty against visiting D-man Grigory Panin, eased Loko’s passage into the next phase, while goalie Alexander Sudnitsin claimed his second successive win, making 44 saves. The first period saw CSKA have by far the better of the play, with Valery Nichushkin and Bogdan Kiselevich at the heart of most of the good things in the Army Men’s play. But those efforts went unrewarded, with Sudnitsin once again frustrating the Moscow offense and Loko looking for chances on the counter attack. Come the eighth minute, and one of those opportunities came off for the home team. Pavel Kraskovsky was the scorer, finding the net for the second time in this post season, but Yegor Korshkov was the architect. His rush took him behind the CSKA net, where a perfectly weighted backhand pass found young Kraskovsky on the slot and ready to shoot home the opening goal. For young Ilya Sorokin, recalled to the CSKA starting line-up, it was hardy the ideal start. At the other end, the pressure was intense, but CSKA struggled to get good looks at Sudnitsin’s net. A resilient defensive display, typified by the commitment shown by forward Daniil Apalkov as he twice pulled off vital blocks towards the end of the stanza, limited the Army Men’s opportunities. At the first intermission, Sudnitsin had nine saves, while Loko had blocked 10 shots before they could trouble the goalie. That pattern continued in the second period, with CSKA enjoying the bulk of possession but struggling to carve out clear chances. And again, Lokomotiv was better able to cash in on the opportunities it created, extending its lead on the power play in the 34^th minute. Max Talbot got it, pouching an instinctive finish from close range after D-men Staffan Kronwall and Jakub Nakladal stretched the visiting defense. Talbot was also involved in the other big incident of the middle stanza when he found himself on the receiving end of a high hit from Grigory Panin. The Loko forward was left crumpled on the ice while Panin was awarded a double 5+game penalty for that offense and a similar assault on Brandon Kozun in the subsequent brawl. Nakladal was given a minor for roughing in the same incident. That extended penalty cost CSKA dear, with Loko extending its lead early in the third period as the Army Men remained short-handed. Nakladal kept the puck in the visitor’s zone, just, and fed Kronwall in the right-hand circle. He drilled the puck across the face of Sorokin’s net and Andrei Loktionov was on hand to turn it in at the far post. Now the game was all but out of CSKA’s reach, with two further minutes of the Panin double penalty to kill. Lokomotiv’s defense remained as rigorous as ever, with Vladislav Gavrikov adding his name to the list of players putting their body on the line to block shots from the visiting offense but by now the home team was well on top and the outcome was already beyond serious doubt. There was a consolation goal for CSKA, scored by Stephane Da Costa on the power play in the closing minutes, but this was very much Lokomotiv’s day.